“Putin would like to see a weak NATO without Trump. And a weak Ukraine, which cannot survive on the battlefield, simply cannot survive,” Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy flattered Trump — the U.S. president-elect and a skeptic of continuing to send weapons to Ukraine — during the conversation. | Amaury Cornu/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images
Putin also wants to prevent Zelenskyy from “building a strong relationship with Trump,” the Ukrainian leader warned.
Lukashenko apologized for war
Zelenskyy recounted a story in which, several days after the start of the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022, Belarus’ authoritarian ruler Alexander Lukashenko apologized to him during a phone call for letting Putin strike Ukraine from Belarusian territory.
“’Volodymyr, this is not me. I’m not in charge,’ he told me, ‘I’m not in charge. These are just missiles. This is Putin.’ I told him, ‘Don’t do that. You are a murderer too.’ He told me, ‘You must understand, you can’t fight the Russians.’ I told him that we never fought them. I said, ‘It’s war. The missiles came from your land, from Belarus. How did you allow this?’” Zelenskyy said.
Lukashenko then apparently made the strange offer that Ukraine could retaliate by striking the Mozyr oil refinery, a key Belarusian asset. Ukraine hasn’t hit that refinery.
Lukashenko’s press office on Monday denied that he had apologized to Zelenskyy.
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Publish date : 2025-01-06 06:15:00
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Author : love-europe
Publish date : 2025-01-06 16:59:38
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